Breath of Death
by LadyMeringue
Summary: Sometimes, some battles are meant to be fought alone, even if it's the last one.


**Breath of Death**

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**A/N: Hey there! :D I know I know, I'm back after ages! *throws some flowers around* Well, here I am with my latest one-shot! :D**

**Now a warning, this is quite depressing (or so I think), and there is a major character death, so do beware... The story is set after Ultimate Alien (Omniverse is not existent, but Ben and Julie are no longer a couple anymore). Most sincere apologies if I go OC.**

**Disclaimer: Well, duh! Ofcourse, I don't own Ben 10. **

**Now, Happy reading! :D**

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It was a pleasant autumn night. Ben was strolling about alone on the streets, something which he rarely ever got to do. Things had been bad lately. Three missions of his had been a failure, which had led to a bloodbath in various planets, his team mates were disappointed in his failures, not to mention the amount of criticism he had to face.

His personal life had been just as disheartening, with Gwen and Kevin showing disappointment in his methods of leadership, constantly shooting him dark glances as though everything that had happened was his fault. He'd tried his best to stop the war, but it didn't happen due to the accidental death of one of the warheads by his own hands. But no one seemed to understand. He agreed that he was overconfident about the success of the mission, and perhaps it had blinded him, but no one could be sorrier than him for what had taken place.

And to top it all, Azmuth had taken away his prototype Omnitrix for a few days, saying that there was some technical interference that was causing a disturbance in the Codon Stream. Even though Azmuth had promised to return it within a week, Ben felt that it was some sort of punishment he was being subjected to, because of his rash decision.

But that night, things had reached a new low point. He and Gwen had gotten into a humongous argument in the morning, that somehow started from a smoothie and ended up with bitter words fired towards Ben, which was more than unbearable for him. Kevin had given Ben a cold shoulder throughout the argument, leaving him more alone than ever. He had been keeping a lot to himself lately, and needless to say, it really sucked. He hated those internal battles he always had to face, the guilt that he always had to swallow down, the fear he always had to bury in some distant corner of his mind. And somewhere along the line, he felt himself now cracking under the pressure.

He chose to reach home by foot that night. The air was cool and whipped him in the face with a force that was strangely relaxing.

_And crack_.

The lightning and thunder had begun. Looking uneasily at the sky, Ben sought to catch a bus, but he couldn't find any. Great. No bus, and it could rain anytime! Rushing through an empty alley way, he was about to run into the next one, when he heard a strangled yell.

Rushing towards the source of the noise, he reached two alleys further, where a guy was being robbed by a gang of 8 men.

Perfect. He had _no_ Omnitrix, and the guys were double his size. This certainly couldn't get worse. But he had to decide - to do what's right, or to do what's easy. Quickly sending a voice message on Gwen's Plumbers badge, he came out in the light, where the robbers had the man on gunpoint, and had terrorized him into handing over all of his valuables.

"I think that would be enough for now." Ben finally gained the attention of the thieves, while the victim gave him a grateful look before sneaking away stealthily into the shadows.

"Well well, if it isn't the great Ben Tennsyon..." The leader came forward with a snicker. All the men were masked, so it was useless trying to identify anyone.

"You guys have really chosen the wrong guy to pick up a fight with!"

"What are you gonna do, alien boy? Turn into one of those freaks and bust our heads or something?" And the sneering laughter rang about. Ben was having a hard time controlling his rage. He had had one of the worst days of his life, and this was NOT how he wanted to end this day. He was trying to buy himself time, so that he could get into the fight with Gwen and Kevin, rather than enter unarmed.

But suddenly, a rage unlike he had ever known, had overcome him with such a force and before he knew it, he felt his hand fly across the jaw of the guy opposite him, which resulted in a sickening crunch noise, along with the guy hitting the opposite wall, who was knocked unconscious.

And this set the stone rolling. Trying his best to keep 7 pairs of hands off him was an impossible task, not to mention the fact he was unarmed and the men he were battling were twice his size. He managed to a certain extent before he knocked off two more.

The battle got more intense, but Ben was getting drained out quickly. Surprisingly for him, he felt his will to fight drain. The adrenaline in his body was fading away steadily and just as he was about to punch one of the men, the guy pulled his hand, flipping him on the ground on his stomach. Ben was caught off guard and he felt the breath knocked out of him at his fall. He also felt the taste of sickening metal in his mouth, which made him realize - his _nose_ was broken.

"Splendid. Now before getting home, a trip to the ER. This could NOT get any worse!" Spitting the crimson liquid from his mouth, he turned the look at the guy.

"Goodbye, Mr. Tennyson... you've had a great run, but your times' up..."

The guy had him on gun point. Ben was momentarily paralyzed. But he regained his senses quickly, and threw himself out of harm's way before the gun went off. Getting to his feet, he managed to knock off his current assailant with a well aimed kick to his torso. He barely had a moment to get some breath however, before he felt himself get pounded by two of the other assailants, while the third one had quietly fled the scene.

Ben felt increasing irked by the moment, having to battle two guys together who were four times his size combined. He felt a pang of pain in his heart. He had so hoped that Gwen and Kevin would let bygones be bygones, and would rush to his aid, but no such luck. Shedding away those painful hopes, he turned his full attention towards his assailants. Managing to free himself from between the two goons, he pushed the two of them across each other, which resulted in their heads colliding with a loud thud and both of them were rendered unconscious.

Heaving a sigh of relief, Ben was about to leave the alley way, before a loud booming voice echoed "Freeze, or bang you go!"

Turning slowly to see the new comer, Ben growled in frustration. The last remaining assailant who had 'supposedly' fled the scene earlier, had returned. The guy had a hand gun pointed towards Ben. Creeping slowly, Ben moved ahead with a fearless grace, while the assailant began to step backwards. Ben felt reckless - he no longer cared about the consequences - his job was to beat up bad guys, and he would make sure that the guy in front of him would remember him for the years to come.

And thing went faster than either of the two had imagined. The moment the assailant had his finger over the trigger, Ben sprang upon him, not unlike Rath, where the two of them got into a scuffle over the gun. And two shots went off simultaneously.

It happened in a few moments. The goon fell down, while Ben gave a weak sigh, and that's when he looked down. Diluted blood could be seen near his feet. Ben put a hand on his stomach and looked at it. Red. He was aware for a moment of what had happened to him, when a blank "Oh great." escaped his lips, while his eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed on the ground.

Feeling his world go topsy-turvy around him, he was dimly aware of the pair of strong hands that were not there to hold him from hitting the ground. His eyes were open, and yet couldn't take in anything he was seeing. His breath seemed to have been stolen away from him, and his lungs couldn't seem to draw any. He shut his eyes and tried to open them again, but all he got was oblivion.

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An inky black world greeted him with its vast infinity. Ben looked about, but all he could find was darkness around him, which was sinister, and only gave out an aura of evil. He tried to scream, but he realized that there was no medium that could carry him voice. He was in a vacuum filled abyss where only he existed. He tried to move his body, but he felt himself immobilized. He was now getting suffocated - he would choke out of breath any moment. Trying desperately to find a way out, he felt a powerful tug around his torso, that sucked him with such force, he felt as though someone had torn it into half.

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Ben opened his eyes, and tried to gasp for breath. His vision was still blurry but now he could make out more about his surrounding. Staring up, his eyes saw the stars in the now clear sky above him. He tried to laugh at the irony of life, but all it resulted in was a gurgling sound, which sounded more like a choked animal's cry. Great. He was _dying_ and he was all alone. No Gwen's concern filled orbs to look into his to assure him that he will pull through, neither Kevin's hard gaze which hid several fears within them. Nothing. He was alone, and there would be no one he could spend those last moments of his life with.

Yes, he knew he didn't have long, he seemed to be bleeding out way too fast. He tried to bite his lip to stop him from screaming aloud, but the pain he felt was excruciating. But maybe it was his heart that ached him so much. He had maintained that wall of loneliness for way too long, and he felt it break at that moment with such force, his insides were being eaten up.

Tears escaped his eyes, while all the moments from his life flashed before him like a video- his childhood, his road trip with Grandpa Max and Gwen, the Omnitrix (how he cursed that device at that moment), Kevin, Julie, the Ultimatrix, Vilgax, Gwen, his childhood. He could no longer string his thoughts together. He felt tired of pulling each breath after the other, which gave him nothing but pain. But there were no regrets - he could die peacefully with the fact that his last act had been saving the world, _without _the Omnitrix.

"_It's not the tool, it's the man."_

Smiling to himself as Gwen's words rung in his ears, he felt himself being pulled into the same abyss once more.

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He felt himself being jerked into reality once more, but he couldn't make head or tail of what was happening. There was way too much noise around him which drove his already aching head over the edge, while he felt his entire body on fire. Another yell of pain escaped his lips, yet his voice must have been barely above a whisper. And he knew - this was it. His world seemed to be in a fusion of colors and surrounding, and noises echoed around him like several people speaking together at once. Shutting his eyes, he could feel blood escape from his mouth. It was disgusting, but he knew it was all going to be over in a matter of minutes. He felt something hit his face several times, but he did not have any will nor any energy to respond. Until he heard his name.

"Ben.." Opening his eyes with a great effort, he finally saw the person he had wanted to see all this time. Gwen looked at him with tears cascading down her face, her emerald eyes red and puffy. He assumed his head was on her lap, but that was not all. Straining his eyes and looking across, Kevin sat near him, and he felt Kevin trying to stem the bleeding. Words were no longer audible to him, but judging from their blurry silhouettes, things did not look good. He could catch phrases like "Hang on", "Should be there any moment", "Too much bleeding", "He has to pull through". He tried to lose himself into the abyss where pain no longer accompanied him, but life seemed to cling to him even more, now that the moment had come.

Ben felt some funny movement around his head, and he assumed Gwen must be going somewhere. Before she could leave however, Ben tried to navigate her hand blindly, and caught hold of it.

"It's too late..."

"Ben's it's going to be alright... trust me..."

Ben only shook his head with a grin on his face. He couldn't understand why he felt like laughing even in such pain, but he did. His mind now travelled to trivial things - assuming how he must look at the moment. He knew he was a bloody mess - nose broken, a rib or two alongside, he had several cuts and bruises, and of course, he was _shot_. Kind of a cherry over the cake. Or how the several 'bad guys' of the Universe had attempted to kill him in much sophisticated ways - if only they knew that all it would take to kill him was a little bullet.

He drank in Gwen and Kevin's sight with greed, with as much as his vision could allow him. Here they were, sitting by his side as he was dying, but the fact remained - some battles had to be fought alone, even if it was the last one. There was nothing to be said, nothing to be done - everything was forgotten and everything was forgiven. It would have been so nice had the same thing taken place while he was alive and healthy. But they were together now, and that was all that mattered.

As Ben ascended to another world, where a hero would be more than welcome, the mortal world where he now lay had an atmosphere of only regret and grief. Looking at his now blank face, with blood smeared across his lips, and the ghost of his last smile still etched on it, Gwen and Kevin picked Ben up gently with tears in their eyes, and guilt in their hearts, and headed to the church, where they would give Ben the farewell he deserved - the farewell of a hero.

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**There! I hope it's quite alright, and you guys are not planning to throw anything at me... *gives innocent look* Well, constructive criticism will be more than welcome..! :) :D**


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